The New York Rangers nearly pulled off an impressive comeback against the high-potential San Jose Sharks, losing 6-5 in overtime. It did not start off all that well for the Blueshirts, going down early, 3-1, at the end of the first period. But this team battled back and showed signs of an older, more accomplished team, and it could be very beneficial for the future.
Let's talk about it.
Throwing it back by two years
It is hard to believe that just two years ago, the Rangers were the cream of the crop of the National Hockey League. They set a franchise record for points in a season with 114, as well as wins in a single season with 55. And then the 2024-25 season hit, and all of the special skills and abilities with that team drifted off into outer space.
Or, so we thought.
Despite not winning the game against the Sharks, they overcame a significant deficit in the last 40 minutes of the hockey game. The Rangers dug deep, found that inner resolve, and executed a comeback to gain a point.
Large in part to the emergence of Taylor Raddysh, and his first-career hat trick, and the first time the Blueshirts faithful were able to toss some hats onto the Madison Square Garden ice. After that dry spell on home ice, it is nice to see that this team can still put on a show and play a complete game.
The Sharks have a young group of forwards, but they are instinctively competitive, and they just beat the best goaltender in the league, Igor Shesterkin, for six goals. But that won't happen every single night, so it is a good sign for the rest of the season despite the loss.
The 2023-24 Rangers had 28 comeback wins, and they nearly had their second one of the 2025-26 season on Thursday.
Is the team starting to click?
The Rangers might finally be starting to click. Despite having a losing record, there is still a lot of time to make up ground from their bad start. Namely, with getting better on home ice.
But the prospect that this team has the fortitude to come back in hockey games makes them better than advertised. The supporting class of Raddysh, Juuso Parsinnen, and Conor Sheary is starting to really help out the top six. Additionally, outside the top pair of Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov, the defense is beginning to take shape, with the emergence of Matthew Robertson.
Overall, the Rangers shouldn't be happy with their loss to San Jose, but there is a stability to their season right now, as if a reset was just issued. This team can win on the road, and despite being winless at home, the ability to score on home ice has finally been figured out. Now they just gotta defend a little bit better while still scoring.